Aljamain Sterling has defeated some of the best fighters in UFC history at bantamweight, including former and future champions Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and Renan Barão, but he wouldn’t say any of those are the “best” moment of his professional career.
Sterling was coming off back-to-back title wins over Yan when he was paired up against former titleholder T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280, the co-main event for Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev in October 2022. Dillashaw had moved back up to bantamweight after a failed attempt to win the flyweight belt from Henry Cejudo and beat Cory Sandhagen in his return from doping suspension, and Sterling knocked him out in the second round.
“Best moment? Probably punching T.J. Dillashaw,” Sterling told Home of Fight. “Because I just know he’s a cheat. He’s a lying cheat. ‘Oh no, I only got caught that time.’ Yeah, you only got caught that time. Your teammate outed [him] before [the fight] at the presser and no one even talked about it.”
Dillashaw was the 135-pound champion and cut down to flyweight to attempt to win a second UFC belt, but lost in 32 seconds to Cejudo and tested positive for EPO. He retired from the sport after losing to Sterling in Abu Dhabi.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like T.J. in terms skillset and everything, fun to watch, studied a lot of his game,” Sterling said. “Gut I’ve always heard the rumblings that he was cheating. I was just like, you know what, I can’t say anything until he got caught. He got caught, so I can say everything I want to say now [laughs].”
Sterling hasn’t entered the octagon since defeating Brian Ortega via decision in August 2025, rebounding from a loss to Movsar Evloev nine months prior. The former champion said he’s “throw my name in the hat” to be backup fighter for Evloev’s upcoming UFC London main event clash with Lerone Murphy on March 11, which can end up being a title eliminator to determine who’s next for Alexander Volkanovksi.
“Listen man, Movsar is one of the most unreliable guys that pulls out of how many fights?” Sterling said. “Or somehow his opponent doesn’t make it to the fight. But usually it’s him. Obviously cutting weight sucks, but to put myself in a No. 1 contender position where I can I can fight either one of those guys and win, I think the writing’s on the wall that I get another title shot long before it’s overdue.”
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